BC Khimki took control of Group J by downing BC Donetsk 68-55 on Tuesday. Head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis’s side remains undefeated so far for the entire Eurocup campaign. The loss dropped Donetsk to 2-1 record stays and second place in the group. Kresmir Loncar led the way for Khimki with 17 points and 7 rebounds, Vitaly Fridzon nailed 17 with 7 assists, and Zoran Planinic added 16 with 6 boards. Vlacheslav Kravtsov had 17 points and 8 rebounds for Donetsk, Ramel Curry chipped in 11 and Ivan Radenovic had 10 points and 10 boards.

Michael Lee opened the scoring for Donetsk, before Planinic answered down low. Curry went all the way, but Sergey Monya scored an easy layup in the open court Curry was on fire with a three-pointer for a 6-9 edge. Fridzon found easy points after a steal by Monya and Planinic tapped in a Loncar miss to take the lead, 10-9. Khimki increased its defensive pressure and Loncar and Fridzon posted free throws. Dmitriy Khvostov capped an 11-0 run assisted by Matt Nielsen to make it 17-9. Vlacheslav Kravtsov dunked for the guests before Chirs Quinn missed a layup over the buzzer to finish 17-11 after 10 minutes. A left hook of Kravtsov kept Donetsk moving. Quinn answered with a short jumper and Nielsen finished the pick-and-roll for 21-13. New entry Dmytro Gliebov hit a short jumper, then Ivan Radenovic and Kravtsov connected for a high-low play to finish with a dunk for 23-17. After 2 free throws by Quinn, Donetsk scored 6 unanswered points to get within 25-23 with a perfect inside move from Radenovic. Fridzon’s three pointer against the guests 1-2-2 zone stopped Khimki’s offensive difficulties, but Vule Avdalovic nailed a rainbow shot in the paint and Gliebov finished with a layup to make it 28-27. Loncar completed a three-point-play copied by Radenovic for a 31-32 advantage. Planinic bagged a shot from downtown, and scored a pair from the foul line to finish 36-32 at halftime.

Fridzon opened the second half with a triple before Monya, Avdalovic and Loncar layups made it 41-34. Planinic’s fadeaway jumper increased the margin. Radenovic scored just one form the foul line before Mickeal Gelabale from long distance gave a double-digit cushion to Khimki, 46-36. Avdalovic finished with a layup coming off a timeout, but Planinic stole a ball from the hands of Curry to complete a three-point-play for 49-38. Radenovic scored 2 from the foul line, and Donetsk aligned again its zone defense, but Gelabale’s easy layup made it 51-40. A huge block by Kravtsov on Loncar and his hook put 51-42 on the scoreboard. Gelabale scored a three which was answered again by Kravtsov in the paint for 54-44 as the third quarter finished. A Lee triple early in the last quarter made it 54-47, then Fridzon after two scoreless minutes answered from three-point land for a 57-47margin. Loncar, assisted by Thomas Kelati, and free throws by Fridzon made it 64-49 - the biggest margin so far - to Khimki with three and a half minutes remaining. An unstoppable Kravtsov under the boards tried to sound the charge for the guests with 4 points, but Fridzon free throw with less than a minute on the game clock sealed the win for the hosts.